Lecturer Reuben Zellman Creates Chorus for Transgender, Intersex, Gender-Queer Singers

SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE -- Zellman says he pondered the need for a new sort of chorus while directing the Treble Singers at San Francisco State University, where he also teaches ear training, musicianship and introductory guitar.

“I had increasing numbers of undergraduate students who said, ‘I really want to sing with [the Treble Singers], but I feel kind of uncomfortable, because I don’t identify as a woman,’” Zellman says. “That compelled me to think we gotta create a place where people can sing in a place that’s healthy for them, singing what they want to sing, and working toward the singers they want to be, without sacrificing the fullness of what they are as human beings.”